Budget Technician, GS-0561

Definitions:

EXPERIENCE: One year of work experience is twelve months working full-time (at least 35-40 hours per week). Part-time experience can be pro-rated (i.e., a year at 20 hours per week is credited as 6 months of experience). If your position consisted of mixed duties, experience credit is given for the percentage of time that you spent on qualifying duties (i.e., if you held a position for 2 years, full-time, consisting of 25% personnel work and 75% budget work, and then applied for a budget position you could calculate your experience as follows: 2 yrs; 2 months, 24 months x 75% [percentage of time spent on budget duties] = 18 months of qualifying experience.).

UNDERGRADUATEEDUCATION: One year of undergraduate education is 30 semester hours or 45 quarter hours of college study or at least 20 hours of classroom instruction per week for approximately 36 weeks in a business, secretarial, or technical school. This education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial, technical school, college or university for which high school graduation or the equivalent was a prerequisite.

GRADUATEEDUCATION: In the absence of specific graduate program information, a year of graduate education is 18 semester hours or 27 quarters hours of graduate level college course work, or the number of credit hours the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full time study. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university.

For GS-05:

Applicants must meet one of the following to qualify for the GS-5 level:

**One year of specialized experience in or directly related to the position to be filled that equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. To be creditable, the required specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-04 level in the Federal service. Examples of GS-4 level work could include: 1) reviewing vouchers, purchase requests, work orders, and contract invoices to verify budgetary account codes and dollar amounts; 2) comparing job orders, work orders, and requests for funds with account balances to assure that funds are available; 3) adjusting account balances to reflect the effect of allotments, transfers, obligations, expenditures, and other actions that change the amount of funds available in accounts. For examples 1-3, established instructions, practices, or precedents were used for performing similar and well-established procedural tasks. A designated authority provided general standing instructions on recurring assignments by indicating the amount of work expected, a general explanation of what was to be done, applicable policies, procedures and methods to follow, data and information required, quality and quantity expected, priorities and deadlines. New, difficult or unusual work assignments were given with specific instructions. Situations not covered by instructions or precedents were referred to a designated authority for decision or help.

**OR a full four years of progressive, successfully completed education above the high school level in any field for which high school graduation or the equivalent is a prerequisite may be used to meet the qualification requirements for GS-5. This education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college, or university.

**OR equivalent combinations of successfully completed post-high school education and specialized experience may be used to meet the qualification requirements for GS-5. Only progressive education in excess of the first 60 semester hours or 90 quarter hours (i.e., beyond the first two years) of a course of study is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirement. (CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO COMBINE UNDERGRADUATEEDUCATION AND SPECIALIZEDEXPERIENCE)

For GS-06:

Applicants must meet one of the following to qualify for the GS-6 level:

**One year of specialized experience in or directly related to the position to be filled that equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. To be creditable, the required specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-05 level in the Federal service.

Examples of GS-5 level work could include: 1) reviewing vouchers, purchase requests, work orders, and contract invoices to verify budgetary account codes and dollar amounts; 2) comparing job orders, work orders, and requests for funds with account balances to assure that funds are available; 3) adjusting account balances to reflect the effect of allotments, transfers, obligations, expenditures, and other actions that change the amount of funds available in accounts. For examples 1-3, a designated authority provided general standing instructions on recurring assignments by indicating the amount of work expected, a general explanation of what was to be done, applicable policies, procedures and methods to follow, data and information required, quality and quantity expected, priorities and deadlines. New, difficult or unusual work assignments were given with specific instructions. Initiative was exercised in carrying out recurring assignments. Situations not covered by instructions or precedents were referred to a designated authority for decision or help.

**OR applicants may substitute successful completion of 1/2 year of appropriate graduate level education (9 semester hours, 13.5 quarter hours, or the equivalent) in a field of study directly related to the work of the position to be filled for the required one year of specialized experience. Graduate education may be credited only when it is clearly directly related to the work of the position to be filled and equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position.

**OR applicants may substitute a combination of appropriate specialized experience (as described above) and graduate level education (as described above) to meet the qualification requirements. (CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO COMBINE GRADUATEEDUCATION AND SPECIALIZEDEXPERIENCE)

For GS-07:

Applicants must meet one of the following to qualify for the GS-7 level:

**One year of specialized experience in or directly related to the position to be filled that equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. To be creditable, the required specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-06 level in the Federal service.

Examples of GS-6 level work could include: 1) determining appropriations to be charged by object class and line item, and chargeable fiscal year; 2) examining and verifying cost data, and detecting over or under obligation and net expenditures of funds; 3) computing and adjusting a wide variety of accounts to reflect effects of budgetary transactions; 4) advising managers on procedures to be followed in obtaining and spending funds. For examples 1-4, a designated authority established general priorities and deadlines and provided guidance for unusually involved situations. This level of work experience would have involved independently choosing the proper methods and procedures to be followed, resolving problems which were covered by established guides and instructions, and referring unusual or precedent-setting problems or work situations not covered by guides or instructions to a designated authority for resolution. Completed work was reviewed by a designated authority for conformance with accepted budgetary requirements.

**OR applicants may substitute successful completion of 1 year of appropriate graduate level education (18 semester hours, 27 quarter hours, or the equivalent) in a field of study directly related to the work of the position to be filled for the required one year of specialized experience. Graduate education may be credited only when it is clearly directly related to the work of the position to be filled and equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position.

**OR a combination of appropriate specialized experience (as described above) and graduate level education (as described above) that is beyond the first 1/2 year of progressive graduate study. (CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO COMBINE GRADUATEEDUCATION AND SPECIALIZEDEXPERIENCE)

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